My Week In Workouts by Madeleine Shaw

Queen of the wellness scene Madeleine Shaw is no stranger to working out. The famous food blogger and nutritionist announced her pregnancy earlier this year, and so naturally things have changed when it comes to the exercise routine.

You'd be forgiven for presuming that having a baby on the way really ramps up the pressure when it comes to staying in shape. But in fact, Madeleine says being pregnant has "really taken the pressure off" and that she finds it "liberating".

So how does Madeleine juggle a healthy, active lifestyle with pregnancy? Here she takes us through her nutrition, fitness regime and how she varies activity with a permanent plus one on board.

Now that I’m pregnant I exercise because I want to feel good - I’m not thinking about body goals, and that has really taken lots of pressure off. It’s really liberating. I didn’t want to lose my fitness while I was pregnant, and I really want to be strong for labour, but I couldn’t do anything for the first trimester because I felt sick most days, so I’m just getting back into it now. I workout three or four times a week, and on the rest days I make sure I walk everywhere.

My relationship with food has also changed slightly since becoming pregnant - I’m not just eating for me, I’m nourishing this little life inside of me, and that is really exciting. I’ve had a few weird cravings - like soft mints - but I do still want to eat as well as I can. So I start the days with a smoothie to get my nutrients in, such as my peach and basil smoothie, which is so good on a hot day.

I’ve been seeing Charlie Launder at Lomax gym in Chelsea once a week. She specialises in pre and post natal training and it’s so reassuring to feel like you’re in safe hands. It’s a one hour session and we always start with a warm up and glute activation with a resistance band before we get into a series of circuits. It can range from anything from doing sets of TRX rows, to rounds of lunges with a 6kg weight to ten sets of goblet squats with a kettlebell.

In between circuits, I do a minute on the stationary bike to keep my heart rate up. Charlie pushes me further than I probably would on my own, but I never feel like it is too hard and she keeps a close eye on me. She’s so nice and she knows all about babies and pregnancy from her clients - there’s almost no question she can’t answer. The session ends with an amazing stretch, which I really need these days with carrying around the extra weight. After my workout I always get a Lomax protein smoothie from the cafe downstairs, while I catch up on emails.

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Rest days are more important now than ever, but I make sure I get a walk in. It’s a great way to explore a new city.

If I’m in London, then I’ll make myself a gym bunny smoothie from my book, which has lots of veg in it, and head over to the EasyGym that is near my house. I do a 20 minute circuit which involves step ups with a 4kg weight, squats with a resistance band around my knees and modified push ups that I learned from Charlie at Lomax. Now I’m pregnant I just workout with my bodyweight, or a really low weight, when I’m on my own, and save the more intense workout for when I see my PT. Ideally I’d do this twice a week, but the reality is it’s usually once. I nip home and cook up some eggs for my post-gym meal to keep my protein up.

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A post shared by Madeleine Shaw (@madeleine_shaw_) on May 30, 2017 at 10:05am PDT

I am currently studying Naturopathic Nutrition at CNM, so on Fridays I’m at school. I walk there and back, and make sure I stretch when I get home because the weight of the bump puts a lot more pressure on your body. Because I sleep on a pregnancy pillow to support my bump at night, I find that it shortens my glutes, so I have to stretch lots when I wake up.

If I’m at home on a Saturday, I’ll probably go to the gym and do my circuits again. But if I’m away - like I am at the moment doing a book tour - then I love to use it as a chance to try new classes. I recently went to StretchLab in Venice Beach in LA and it was so good. There were about 30 beds and you lay down and they stretched you out. Just what I needed after a long flight.

On a Sunday, I’ve been going to Method Movement in Chelsea since before I was pregnant and I’ve kept it up. I’ve completed my yoga teacher training qualification so I know what I can and can’t do, and my instructor is also great at helping me. I used to do handstands, but sadly they’re off limits for a while. But an hour here leaves me feeling amazing. When I get home I love to cook my tray roasted cod because it’s one of my favourite meals and it’s just so easy: it takes about four minutes to prep. It’s perfect for a lazy Sunday.

A post shared by Madeleine Shaw (@madeleine_shaw_) on May 15, 2017 at 1:27am PDT

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